Go out into the world...

As I talk to others about their call, I repeatedly hear them describe their initial resistance to the call. I can’t say that I ever spent much time resisting God’s call in my life. I think in my case sensing God’s call in my life provided my life with significance. I guess I did occasionally ask the question as to whether there was anything else I might be interested in doing but there never was any strong resistance from the time I was in junior high.

I think my case may have been unusual, however. I once heard another pastor suggest that you should resist the call as much as possible and then and only then should you accept it. I think his point was that authentic ministry involves a lot of stress and not a small measure of suffering so only enter it if you’ve considered all the other options and not found a satisfying alternative.

It does seem to me that resistance or arguing with God over the call is biblically authentic. Moses (Exodus 4:1-18) and Jeremiah (1:4-10) are prominent examples. And while not so obvious, one could even see the story of Jesus’ temptation as a version of resistance. It was certainly a refining of the call in a manner that defied common wisdom.

Consider what you are cooperating with when you accept God’s call. You are opening yourself to being touched by the infinite. You are drawn towards the future by a voice from beyond time. If you take that seriously, there is no way that that shouldn’t make you nervous if not terrified. It is an audacious claim to suggest that you are being addressed and shaped by a power outside of the confines of time.

There is a sense that your call is not a one time event but is a continuing experience. In many ways God’s call is a heightened sensitivity to God’s guiding presence in the journey of your life. It fills your life with a greater purpose because the purpose of your life is not restricted to what you are getting out of your life. You are part of a greater story.

It, of course, includes having a sense of direction in your life. Your life is going somewhere. There is an intentionality to it and in the case of a believer, that intentionality includes God’s purpose in your life. Building on Paul’s experience of being forbidden by the Spirit to speak in Asia and Bithynia and receiving a vision that directed him to Macedonia (Acts 16:6-10), it becomes clear that our calls can change from time to time. It is also clear that even though we seek to be faithful to the call, it is not always clear to us the direction that it will take. This is why it is so important to develop practices that keep us in touch with God’s evolving call in our lives.

It is important for clergy and educators to pay attention to their call as they try to discern the church they will serve. However, I don’t believe that you can always determine the shape of your call by the normal visible signs of opportunity and success. It is nice to have everyone like you and to be successful in what you do, but sometimes God can call you to an experience that is frustrating and even appears to be a failure.

I will explore this more in future blogs.

One of the great mysteries of call for me is why God calls who God calls. Can anyone explain why God called Abram and Sarai? We aren’t told that they were more pious, faithful, or intellegent than others. Surely there were other good people in Haran. (Genesis 12:1).

Or take the disciples that Jesus called. Aside from the fact that we are given no reason why they responded when Jesus called, we are not told why Jesus chose them rather than some others. The Bible is pretty blunt in pointing out that both Abram and Sarai and the disciples had ethical lapses, didn’t always make good decisions, and at times thought more about their own benefits than that of others.

What is it that causes some to experience a sense of God’s call in their lives and other perfectly good people to not feel that inner stirring? And when it comes to clergy, Christian educators, or missionaries, why did they experience that call. Why did I?

I think it is pretty clear that sensing God’s call in our life is not a sign of moral superiority. In fact the Bible suggests that God has a penchant for calling ethically questionable rascals on a rather frequent basis. Think of Jacob, Moses, some of the judges, David, several of the disciples, and Paul. There are lots of reasons we might not have chosen such people, but God did.

If you have that strong sense that God is calling you, it is not a reason for pride. It may be a good reason to be scared. It is certainly a reason for awe and humility.

Why does God call those whom God has called?

Historic Presbyterian theology would declare that the Sovereign God, who is Lord of the world, offers a call for all of us. Some of us receive a call to some form of official ministry but all of us are invited to respond to God’s call in our lives. When Peter, Andrew, James, and John were called to be disciples, Jesus is reported to say “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”(Matthew 4:19). While it is true that at that moment we are told that they left their nets and followed him, it is also true that later they also returned to fishing. It was not leaving their job that was the issue. It was the purpose for which they exercised their gifts. Before they fished for a profit and afterwards they fished for people.

The question is how we hear God calling us in whatever profession or task we are engaged in. And, having heard God’s call in our lives, how do we stay in contact with the one who calls us. Since I am particularly focused on clergy, I will explore the meaning of call with respect to that profession but I believe it applies to all of our many professions and labors.

I am reminded of the small book by Brother Lawrence called the Practice of the Presence of God. If I remember the story correctly, Lawrence was of peasant stock and had become enamored with the life of the monks in a nearby monestary. He asked if he could join and they invited him in. Then when he was assigned his place in the monestary, he found himself in the kitchen washing pots and pans. At first he was quite distraught because he had dreamed of studying Scripture and being engaged in great acts of piety. What he discovered was that if we chose to wash his pots and pans for the glory of God, he was engaged in a great spiritual activity.

I want to explore the nature of that call in the next few days.

As I continue to explore how we practice the love of God, I am struck with the fact that the language of heaven reflected in the Book of Revelation is the language of music. The angels sing around the throne. In some ways we have always known this as it has shaped our worship.

Music has the particular quality of engaging body, mind, emotion, and spirit in ways that few other actions do. If someone begins to sing words of praise, they are offering love of God with all their “heart, soul, mind, and strength.” It is generally accepted that the psalms were originally sung prayers.

Of course this is easier for someone who is naturally a good singer than most of the rest of us, but if God is the audience, perhaps we can trust that the Spirit intercedes with tone corrective power to transform our offerings.

What I am suggesting is that one could pull off in an area where you are not heard by others and engage in singing your love for God. Depending on your musical tastes, it could be a variety of hymns, songs, etc. For a beginning a couple come to mind: Great Is Thy Faithfulness or How Great Thou Art. Don’t worry about your skills, but try singing them out lustfully and note your own experience of offering this as love to God.

You could move from there to creating your own tunes for some of the Psalms and see how that worked. I would suggest Psalm 8 as an interesting beginning experiement and then you could move on to other psalms of praise. If the psalms are our school of prayer and music is one of the languages of heaven, then perhaps pouring your soul out in this fashion could be a way to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I would be interested in hearing other ways that you have found in focusing in on the love of God.